On Sep. 11, 2001, thousands lost their lives when the United States suffered a vicious and unprecedented attack. Shortly thereafter, the biological agent anthrax was sent through U.S. mail to government and media offices. Five Americans died. These attacks, while very different in scope and nature, exposed America's vulnerabilities to terrorists and biological weapons. In the case of biological weapons, the enemy is silent and often invisible. It is indiscriminate in choosing its victims, innocent people carrying out their daily routines. Anyone can become a victim and everyone is at risk.
The threat of biological warfare has existed for centuries. By definition, biological warfare involves any deliberate use of disease to attack humans, plants, animals, or infrastructure. Biological weapons have been used only occasionally, but they have the potential to inflict great harm. Unlike the materials necessary to produce nuclear weapons, microorganisms, toxins, and viruses that are dangerous to human, animal, and plant life can be found abundantly in nature. The technology needed to turn these agents into weapons is less sophisticated than what is necessary to develop nuclear weapons. Furthermore, only a very small quantity of material is needed, much less than that needed to produce nuclear weapons, but could potentially cause a comparable death-toll.
Technology allows for some biological threat agents, which in their natural state pose only minimal dangers, to be genetically engineered into more threatening forms. Their availability in nature also changes, and science continues to discover new biological threat agents. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has compiled a list of the biological agents of greatest concern. They are segregated into three categories, depending on a variety of factors.
Though the need to develop biological defense technologies to protect against the threat of terrorism is increasing, such biological defense technologies are hard to develop and test. Biological defense technologies are successful if they are able to detect the biological threat agent, inhibit biological threat agent contact with its host, inhibit biological threat agent growth, or kill the biological threat agent Developing and testing biological defense technology in the presence of a biological threat agent poses serious hazards. Exposure of people, and the population at large, to a biological threat agent may result in serious injury or death. Methods allowing the safe development, testing, and training of biological defense technology are needed to minimize, or eliminate, the potential hazards associated with such technology development.
The most widely used methods in the safe development, testing and training of biological defense technology involve the use of simulants. A simulant is an agent having biological and/or physical characteristics similar to a biological threat agent but when used in place of the biological threat agent is not harmful. Though the use of methods involving simulants is a good idea, very few simulants have been identified and are being used.